Star of Kedya
The Star of Kedya is a symbol that can be found all over the world of Kedya, particularly on flags and monuments. It is rarely ever referred to by name as it is a symbol that is understood by people of all cultures and seldom needs explanation. The star itself is one of the only things that survived the two catastrophes. The symbol first appeared on monuments in the city of Skyloft and can still be found on the flags of New World countries. This page will be dedicated to tracing back the roots of the symbol and observing how it has changed over time in both appearance and understood meaning by the contemporary population. Monuments in Skyloft The Star of Kedya first appeared on monuments in the city of Skyloft. The picture to the right shows a monument that was built outside of Skyloft's Skyball Arena. This is not the first use of the star, however. Although no depictions of it exist, the first known use of the Star of Kedya was built over the Skyloft Courthouse. Protruding from each side of the Courthouse were two wings, one wing for each God that ruled over Skyloft: Koloktos and Andreaux. It was well understood at the time that they were not all powerful, but rather subject to the ultimate authority of Kedya. To represent Kedya, the architects behind the Courthouse built a star. The original metaphor was that Koloktos and Andreaux were keeping the world afloat (in balance, since Koloktos and Andreaux were deemed to be opposites who worked in harmony) beneath the light of Kedya. The Flag of Skyloft The Wing and Star monument was so popular and so well received that it quickly became the monument to build everywhere that was touched by Skyloft's influence. Every time the Skyloftans would conquer a new territory, they would built their monument there, so it was no surprise that by the time it was decided that Skyloft needed a flag to wave, they chose to use this design. The Flag of Skyloft clearly depicts the wing of Koloktos and the wing of Andreaux floating beneath the light of Kedya. This is the first time the Star of Kedya is depicted on a two-dimensional plan, and it is depicted as having five points to represent the desired unity of the five main people groups at the time: The Bremans, the Steeplanders, the Chiminey, the Maghamans, and the Mumu. Another interesting feature of the flag is it is the first time Blue and Yellow appear as officially representing the people of Skyloft: a color scheme that finds itself referred back to even in the New World. The original explanation is that the blue represents the ocean and the yellow represents the sun, but it is also very likely that the original monuments were built with diamond and gold (as depicted above) ''ultimately inspiring the two colors that would come to represent the people of Skyloft. The Gate of Albatross The Star of Kedya survived the Fall of Skyloft and found itself being widely used in the Mid World. The first structure to be built in the Mid World was the Gate of Albatross, a large monument built to attract all of the survivors of the Fall. The Gate itself has built upon it two crucial depictions of the Star of Kedya. ''Reference Photo #1 ''shows the first attempted depiction of the star. Attempting to be simplistic, the star is depicted for the first time as a simple cross. It is unclear as to whether or not this star was intended to be the Star of Kedya, but its surrounding architecture seems to push in that direction. Regardless of the intent, this shows a shift in how stars can be portrayed in monuments and flags, not just as the original five pointed star, but the simple cross. In ''Reference Photo #2, ''the Star is shown more clearly this time as definitely being an attempt to depict the Star of Kedya. Not only is this an official cross version of the star, but for the first time, the two wings of Koloktos and Andreaux are depicted as one. The main reason for this is that Andreaux was no longer present in the Mid World, and thus having two wings beneath the light of Kedya would be inaccurate. The Flag of Albatross During the Enclosed Era, the Flag of Albatross was unveiled. The Flag solidifies the idea of finally getting rid of the two wings, and merging them entirely. This is where Koloktos is depicted as a crescent moon for the first time. Unlike the stars depicted on the Gate, though, this Flag continues the tradition of drawing the Star of Kedya with five points rather than as a cross. This flag also shifts the idea of the emblem to establish a harmony between Koloktos and Kedya, completely removing Andreaux from the picture. The Flag of Vale After the end of the Enclosed Era, colonies were built all over the world. Among the first was village of Vale built in a woodland northwest of Albatross. Inspired by the flag of Albatross, they designed one similar, and for the first time depicted the Star of Kedya as a cross above a combined wing. The city was named after Andreaux's mother, Vayla, thus the Crescent Moon of Koloktos wasn't their first choice as being the symbol beneath the star. The Flag of Easton During the New Regime, the Eastonian Villages were united by Airwalker Django and became the Nation of Easton. The flag of this nation would follow a very similar pattern as its predecessors, except this time Kedya was removed from the equation entirely. A crescent moon was added to depict Koloktos, and three stars were drawn to the right to depict the three Eastonian Villages. What's most important to know about this flag is it is the flag that removed the association with Kedya from the Star of Kedya. The Tomb of Airwalker Felix Airwalker Felix was the Airwalker after Django, and grew up in a world where the stars on all of these flags no longer were considered to represent Kedya, but rather Koloktos himself. Because of this, when Felix built his tomb near the end of his life, he wanted to incorporate the star in its design to represent that he was an incarnation of Koloktos. Originally, the star was just a simple cross, but he understood that because the tomb sat in the middle of the star, it did not look at all like a star, it just looked like four protruding hedges of grass. To combat this, Felix added serifs to each point of the star. Not only did this revolutionize the shape of the star, it gave it a new unique image that separated it from stars past. Because it was different from the original stars carved into the Gate of Albatross, this new star with serifs would become the official Star of Koloktos, a name that would not last very long. The Flag of Sergio Inspired directly by the version of the star designed for Felix's tomb ''(the Airwalker who conquered Sergio from the Manifesto), ''the people of Sergio designed a flag of their own. Although this flag was taken directly from Felix's tomb, it was more clearly visible and shown to the public in a way Felix's wasn't. Because of this, the star would henceforth be known as the Sergean Star in all contexts. Aside from Sergio, the star is also depicted on the flags of Kural, the People's Republic of Rybak, and Benjiland. The problem with Sergio's use of the star was that the design became so inherently Sergean, that this design was no longer considered to represent Koloktos. What makes this design noteworthy though is that it officially brings an end to the use of a moon/wing to represent Koloktos. The Flag of Memphis After the Destruction of Albatross and the rise of New World civilizations, there was an unspoken race to which country would replace the power and influence that Rybak had in the Mid World. The country that came on top first was Memphis, a country named for the father of Koloktos. When designing a flag for Memphis, King François knew he wanted to honor Koloktos on the flag, but did not want to use the most recent star that was depicted on the flag of the People's Republic of Rybak, as it was the Sergean Star. King François opted to return to the simple cross star as it looked nice in the middle of the Lexingtonian Flag. It is said that original versions of the Memphizian Flag that were hung over Fort Santiago after the invasion of Year 45 depicted a star akin to that of Sergio's, but it was quickly removed as nobody liked the way it sat. The Flag of Suffolk Just before the start of Secondoguerra, the refugees of the occupied Santigen Peninsula were given their own country. This country needed a flag, and their then King and founder King Angelo knew he had to thank Koloktos for all of his help in getting them the freedom they so longed for. Angelo chose a white background to symbolize purity and peace, and initially nothing else but the original cross star in the middle in blue. Due to fears that the star would be impossible to see on a battlefield and could be interpreted as a flag of surrender, the decision was made the thicken the star and stretch all of its points to the edges of the flag, creating an iconic design that is used by several other nations formed afterwards. The Flag of the Kleijnlands Long after the design behind the Flag of Suffolk became legendary and widely used, the Kingdom of the Kleijnlands was founded and needed a flag of their own. Because they were situated on the Southern Sea, it seemed natural to use the same flag design as Suffolk ''(as was becoming the trend). They used an orange background to depict the unique culture of the Kleijnish people, and then made their cross black to symbolize the mystery of the Terzo Peninsula where their country would be established. After King Eelke saw the design, he liked the colors but was not convinced by the cross design. He claimed that it did not feel strong enough, so to bind the two parts of the cross together even better, he suggested added a circle that would symbolize unity and strength. The Flag of Yakovia When the Yakovians established themselves as rebels against the New Rybaki crown, they needed a flag with which to march into battle. They took the Rybaki Blue and Yellow combination on a blood stained red background and made a unique version of the Koloktos Cross. However, similar to King Eelke's doubts over the original design for the Kleijnish flag, General Rudolf of the Yakovians believed the flag did not look unified enough. Inspired by the Kleijnish flag, Rudolf knew he needed something in the middle. Because this was happening shortly after the Great Big Light that saved the Yakovians from an invasion by the New Rybaki, a sun was chosen as the centerpiece for this flag. So ends the evolution of the Star of Kedya's use in flag design.